Critical: A Marxist Evaluation of the Mouthpiece's Decline
Critically evaluating this artifact, we are presented with many inquiries into what this piece of wood, glass, and corkboard says about everyday life at Bates and about how its use evolved on a basis of multiple factors. We are left to ask questions regarding its validity and relevance to our campus and community and what caused its decline. We are left to ask, “what is missing?” from the story painted by our historical assessment of the artifact. And in our plight to realize these components, we need to first establish and inquire, “what is the theoretical reasoning behind the story of this artifact?” What we believe is the best way to describe the history and eventual decline in use of The Mouthpiece is through Karl Marx and his critique of Capitalism. We will then proceed to explain how the mouthpiece was substituted with other things as time went on and view them though the scope explained by Marxist theory. We will then ask what is missing and proceed to compare The Mouthpiece to a modern entity used on campus in our everyday lives.
Marxist Theory
Marxist theory and arguments on Capitalism being detrimental to our culture could be best used for The Mouthpiece because our campus’ expansion over the 20th Century, and increasing dependence on technology, led to the demise and everyday use of this artifact. The need for new things and progress via Capitalism in his theory meant, “alienation, by which he (Marx) meant a separation or estrangement of man’s true nature from his sense of self “ (Berger, 67). Marxists argue that being alienated by extenuating factors creates the ambition for new needs. In regards to these new needs, Marx says, “Every man speculates upon creating a new need in another in order to force him to a new sacrifice, to place him in a new dependence, and to entice him into a new kind of pleasure and thereby into economic ruin. Everyone tries to establish over others an alien power in order to find there the satisfaction of his own egotistic need” (Fromm, 50). Finding this power and pleasure as time goes on, culminating in our pleasure to stay with the times and be superior among others, is what deters from the sense of self. It is important to ask what is influencing this, specifically whether these needs are real or simply a fantasy. Marxists believe this to not be so saying, “these new dependences are not real, rather are simply imposed upon us by mass media that end up convincing us that with these products we will be truly happy.” (Berger, 67). This imposition is what Marxist’s would argue makes these kinds of transitions happen and that it is simply a distraction from identity causing this substitution and deterring from what was original. Wrapping up Marxist theory on Capitalism we will explain with this thought from Berger, “For Marxists, then, the objects and artifacts we possess are signifiers of the alienation we feel… This would suggest, then that the more artifacts we feel we need to have, the more we are signifying our alienation and the more alienated we are.” (Berger, 68). We will now explain the case of The Mouthpiece through the scope of Marxist theory. From its inception to decline, extenuating factors will be identified to show that Capitalism and the incessant need for advancement within our culture was the downfall of this artifact.
Expansion of Campus
As the Bates community decided to expand the campus over time by building new academic, athletic, and residential facilities, it shifted the focal point of campus elsewhere. New facilities to study, play, and live bought Bates to a new level with our counterparts and continue to in modern day. Our community’s plight to raise the endowment, secure funds for academic research, and so on, are all to enhance our standing as an institution of higher learning. No longer is Hathorn Hall and The Mouthpiece the center of campus, and this overall sentiment is what Marxist theorists would criticize and point towards in trying to decipher why it went from a once relevant object, to a less relevant piece of wood, corkboard, and glass. At some points, our community was alienated in some way, to obtain new things, to gain a new sense of self though factors only brought my money. We will now narrow it down into a specific factor that we predict was the ultimate downfall of this artifact. This factor, motivated by notions of Capitalism, forever changed how we interacted with each other, and that is when in 1995, Bates officially became a ‘wired’ campus.
Dependence on Technology
Becoming a wired campus in 1995 meant a lot of things for our community. Being wired and able to utilize technology for everyday tasks meant efficiency, power, and innovation. This implementing was a small subset in the larger picture of a movement that captivated an entire nation. Technology boomed in the era of the late 90’s and 20 plus years later it is still a growing industry. Directly reflected in the fact that some of the more invested and growing companies in this time are in companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and IBM. This market driven by Capitalism changed the way we interact. With this change in our country, our community was alienated by the ways of the nation to change and rely on technology.
Our community’s drive to change because of the ways of others is best explained and criticized through Marxist criticisms. The two movements, our campus’ expansion over the years and our immersion with technology, were caused by our need for a new sense of self and alienation from others. We will now look to what is missing in this story of The Mouthpiece that is possibly not indicated by our historical and critical evaluations of this artifact and how other aspects of life at Bates could contribute to its story.
Missing Components?
It is vital that our critical assessment of the artifact includes what could possibly be missing in its story from the beginning to current day. There are the obvious factors that have already been pointed out, but there could have been other reasons why it is what it is today. What came to our minds when researching The Mouthpiece was thinking about; what other methods could the Bates Community have utilized in alternative to the artifact to gain information about happenings going on around campus? We thought to other regular day opportunities where one could gain information and came to a few possibilities that could have played a part in explaining the artifact. Mailboxes could easily be an alternative to gain information on things, as they were and still are an avenue to gaining information on various happenings around campus. The school newspaper, The Bates Student, could also be a missing piece into the decline of the mouthpiece as it was a more portable form of obtaining information as compared to having to walk to a part of campus that might not be in the everyday routine of an individual at Bates. There are many possibilities to explore what could be missing into the story of The Mouthpiece. We will now compare what we use in the current day that would be the equivalent to The Mouthpiece and that in our opinion would be Announce Emails.
Announce Emails
The Announce Email (or Bates Email in general) is 'The Mouthpiece' of Bates today because it is the central way we are fed information about things going on around on campus. It is something we rely on heavily to get information, just as people of Bates past relied on The Mouthpiece. Our email and efficient ways of obtaining information is a product of our culture adapting to a methods that became relevant as time went on. In the swipe of an Iphone or the click of a computer mouse, we can obtain the information that we need to know and move on. One could argue in the era where The Mouthpiece was at its greatest relevance to the Bates Community, it was most efficient to simply walk to obtain information. Obtaining information in the most efficient manner is a common theme when we studied this artifact, and both of these things were and are the most efficient of their respective eras.
Conclusion
We have explored the story of The Mouthpiece through a critical scope. Viewing it through a Marxist theory, we were successfully able to demonstrate that Capitalistic influences forced this artifact to lose relevance. Also identifying other things that could have been missing in explaining the story of the artifact, helped provide a broader perspective on artifacts similar and context that could be relevant to its story. Finally comparing the artifact to an entity we use in everyday life helped bring a perspective to the viewer what relevance this artifact once carried to the Bates Community.
-Berger, Arthur A. (2009). What Objects Mean: An Introduction to Material Culture. Walnut Creek, CA. Left Coast Press Inc.
-Fromm, Erich. (1962). Beyond the Chains of Illusion. New York. Touchstone.